Johnson appears poised to defeat Brewer for Dem chair

Lon Johnson appears to have the inside track for the Michigan Democratic Party chairmanship as an overflow crowd of delegates heading to Detroit’s Cobo Center on Saturday will decide whether to retain their veteran chairman, Mark Brewer.

Johnson, 41, a relative newcomer to Michigan politics, continues to rack up endorsements from Democratic activists across the state while Brewer, 57, has placed his hopes in an 11th-hour challenge of the voting rights of more than 1,000 delegates associated with the United Auto Workers, a former Brewer ally.

The intense contest for the chairmanship has generated so much attention from party members that the Democrats have announced that the convention was moved to a larger room in Cobo Center to accommodate an anticipated large crowd. The turnout could now substantially exceed 2,000 convention delegates.

In a campaign that has grown increasingly nasty, Johnson has faced heavy criticism from the Macomb County-based Brewer camp for his spotty voting history and a relative lack of Michigan roots. The incumbent’s forces have launched a Facebook page that attacks Johnson on issues as varied as gun rights to gay rights. Campaign-style postcards criticizing the challenger were mailed to party members.

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But the momentum Johnson established earlier this month when the entire Michigan Democratic congressional delegation endorsed him has created a bandwagon effect. A former official for the national Democratic Party in Washington, Johnson also scored a coup when 11 top Macomb County Democratic officials followed the lead of County Executive Mark Hackel by backing Johnson.

That was viewed as a major snub given Brewer’s roots in Macomb County politics dating back to 1983.

In recent days, Johnson, who established residence in the Kalkaska area in 2011, has added endorsements from Democratic officials and activists in Wayne, Genesee and Ingham counties, as well as the Michigan College Democrats. Brewer, the longest serving state party chairman in the nation, has tried to keep pace but his offer of a compromise earlier this week may have signaled that he sees his chairmanship slipping away.

The Brewer camp has attempted to extend an olive branch by suggesting that Brewer remain as chairman and Johnson accept a newly created executive position as the party’s chief fundraiser. In part because he is married to Julianna Smoot, a Democratic Party star who served as deputy campaign manager for President Obama’s 2012 re-election effort, fundraising is considered Johnson’s forte.

But the attempted unity pact was essentially laughed off by confident Johnson supporters who believe they are on the verge of victory.

The chairmanship race could essentially be decided Friday night when the party’s 80-member Executive Committee, acting as the enforcer of convention rules and credentials, will decide whether the disputed new party members, submitted as a list of about 1,200 last Friday, deserve the right to vote on the convention floor.

At issue is the question of whether the UAW missed a fundamental deadline by submitting the names before the Feb. 15 evening deadline but failed to provide a check to pay for these newcomers’ membership dues until Monday.

The party’s Appeals Committee has already decided in favor of Johnson and the challenger’s supporters will argue that an appeals decision is binding and final.